The easiest way to cool your tongue is drinking milk. it’s readily accessible at the nearest convenience store. Before dying of tongue burning, just run and grab a milk carton, and gulp it. Too exaggerating?

There was a tv show that experimented to figure out the best antidote for pain of spiciness. There were several options including water, milk, coolpis and boiled overcooked rice crust. The winner was milk indeed.

On the tongue

The fat in milk helps remove an element causing spiciness called capsicin from taste buds. Because Milk contains 3.4% of fat and Capsicin is oil-soluble. Keeping milk inside mouth extinguishes a fire for good.

Inside the body

Milk temporarily covers inner surface of the stomach preventing pricking feeling. But the positive effect lasts only few seconds, the it worsen the situation. Stomach lets out acid to digest protein from milk. It acidifies and causess gastric hyperacidity.

Milk is a makeshift. Although it is an effective and efficient method for cooling tongue, it also brings about side effect. Therefore, drink milk only in case of emergency.

2. Coolpis

The most popular way to save your burning tongue is drinking Coolpis. You might never heard of this name, if you are out of Korea. But it’s very common in spicy food serving restaurant. You can spot cartons of coolpis in the refrigerators there. The only savior from those hot places.

When Korean youngsters eat out spicy food, Coolpis must accompany them. If the restaurant don’t carry it, they sometimes buy and bring it there. There’s even a equation like ‘A drink for Spicy food = Coolpis’

Why Coolpis?

The most effective way was with milk, but milk cannot be a commonly drinkable menu. Some people have lactose intolerance and just don’t like its flavor. The owners of restaurant wanted to find the substitute for milk. That is Coolpis.

3. Other ways

The cool temperature and sweet taste soothe the tongue burning. The spicy taste feels more intensely when hot, so cooling down the tongue with cold drink is a good way. Sweetness also makes you flee from spiciness for a while.

All Korean food is not spicy. There are so very many foods that are not. In fact, the history of a pepper in Korea is relatively short compared to the entire Korean history of 5,000. It’s true that it spreaded throughout Korea rapidly and influenced Korean cuisine at significant extent. But there still exist a number of wonderful dishes without it.

The reason why Korean food is branded with spiciness is ‘pepper spiciness is stimulative and more unforgettable.’ When foreigners taste tongue burning food once, they perceive Korean food is mostly hot.

2. But Some Food are very spicy.

Some Korean dishes are very spicy. Korean truly love spicy food indeed. They make spicy food spicier and spicier. Some of them are addicted to it. Craving for more stimuli that bump your head and sweat all body.

Domestic Pepper Consumption in Korea

The domestic pepper consumption is 200,000~250,000ton and 3.8kg per capita. IT is the highest figure among vegetables. Why Koreans are so crazy about spiciness?

People prefer spiciness when they get stressed socially or individually.

According to a research by a folklorist, a pepper is introduced around 18 century when Kimchi and Pepper paste(Gochujang) were generalized. Especially around 1950, due to stress caused by Korean war, poverty and famine, the craving for spiciness enhanced. Its spiciness let out endorphin and relieve stress level. Nowadays, spicy food are popular among twenties, and it supposedly driven from employment troubles.